Friday, 30 November 2007

We went to Cornwall for a week in October and included a visit to St. Ives (the other one). It was a Tuesday and it was wet. Didn't put off the surfers, though. Naturally - as they were in wetsuits. Sorry - no photo of surfers.

Thursday, 29 November 2007

Here's a scene from the IWA National Festival at St. Ives in Cambridgeshire on 26th August this year. I'm standing on Kew, a British Waterways "Blue top", so-called on account of the blue fibreglass movable hold covers. The gas bottle on the roof is to supply the generator to power the lights for the evening's procession of boats.

They really make a difference, don't they? Photographs, that is. Makes a wodge of text much more interesting. I suppose your eye is drawn to the photo and then you want to read what it's about. Er ... I'll have to post a photo here now, won't I? Done it. That's from 29th October this year and is of the tree on the roundabout in the driveway. Can anyone identify it for me, please? I'm particularly pleased with the image.

I think I need a better camera, though. This one's not even mine - it's Jan's! It's a Canon Powershot A200 with a claimed 2 megapixels. If I'm to continue with this online record I'll have to take more pictures. 5 Mp seems to be what's needed these days. Ah yes - Christmas is coming up - could be handy!

Sunday, 25 November 2007

I think the concert went well. Good reports from those in the audience who've spoken to me. And the recording turned out really well too, which I'm very pleased about. The recording's only for the conductor and me - a lot of effort to rig and derig, but satisfying to do. The recording showed up some problems with the location: the choir sounds too distant, and the basses are not strong enough. I'm sure this is because we were almost under the chancel arch: a lot of the sound went behind us to be lost in the chancel. If we'd been in front of a solid wall the sound would have been reflected forward giving a much stronger sound. The balance between the soloists and the orchestra was good, but the orchestra sounded a bit heavy compared with the choir.

I've spent most of this afternoon editing the recording. I recorded in the church onto minidisc, then dubbed minidisc to minidisc digitally, then edited the resulting disc by dividing and moving/track erasing. Not perfect, but a quick way of producing something without all the gash bits whilst keeping the original discs untouched. Now I need to find a way of transferring digitally onto computer so I can do fades/mixes.

One of the audience took a photograph during the concert - and here it is.

Thursday, 22 November 2007

I think I'll put the cruising log on here from summer 2005. My brother David and I celebrated 25 years at the BBC with an amazing nine week cruise from Bletchley to Coventry, Bugsworth, Standedge, Leeds, Wigan, Llangollen, Anderton etc. I'll have to rely on David's photos for illustration until I get my timelapse loaded. Watch this space!

Will be out on the streets of Norwich shortly, filming a family as they watch a homecoming parade of the Royal Anglian Regiment. It will be tough for them - they lost a son/brother in fighting in Afghanistan four months ago. They will contribute to a package about the parade. Don't yet know where I'll be meeting the family - there'll be lots of people about. Crush barriers were being put up half-an-hour ago.

Just grabbing some lunch before I go out: microwaved Shepherd's Pie from Tesco, with microwaved broccoli. Hmm. Interesting, you think.

Tuesday, 20 November 2007

Lit the woodburner again this evening. Even though the central heating's on. It's just a warmer heat, somehow. Well, I know how - it really is warmer. We have the TRVs set quite low - we're not old yet - so any extra heat is noticeable. I'm burning oak and willow at the moment. All the wood has been donated: the oak from a tree which had died in a friend's garden; and the willow from a tree which fell over next door. I helped my neighbour to remove it and he said I could have all the wood. I was a bit doubtful that it would burn nicely - I'm sure I read somewhere that it would spit - but it's been really good. It burns quite quickly and gives off a lot of heat, whereas the oak seems to burn cooler but for longer. I've recently been chopping up some cedar from a huge branch which fell off a tree in the rectory garden. Must get that under cover soon.

While cutting the cedar I managed to kill my electric chainsaw. I'd noticed that it wasn't using much oil - but didn't consider the implication: no oil used = no oil lubricating where it should be lubricating = overheating and melting of vital plastic bits. Haven't got round to dismantling it yet.

The fire has died down and I am tired. Off to bed! "Who's going to read this?", says Jan.

Monday, 19 November 2007

We're singing in a concert in the parish church this Saturday. It's a programme of Italian sacred works and includes Pergolesi's Magnificat and Stabat Mater; Palestrina's Tu Es Petrus and Rorate Coeli; Monteverdi's Beatus Vir; and Vivaldi's Gloria. I'm a bass and Jan's a soprano. The Hethersett Singers has been going for decades (with a couple of name changes) but has struggled recently with a lack of tenors: the complaint of choral societies everywhere. Let's hope the concert goes well and perhaps encourages some of the audience to join us. As well as singing I've been asked to make an audio recording. The accompanying photo was taken with the Mac's PhotoBooth built in camera - I don't know how to flip it so it's not a mirror image.

Now we'll see if this works. I tried to put a photo on my profile page but I see it's limited to 50kb and I don't know how to reduce the file size of a photo. The first picture here is of the approach to Harecastle Tunnel (northbound) on board Lee Swallow in July 2005. The second pic is of me holding a (self-painted) windlass.